John Humphreys was born around 1842 in Virginia, to George and Elizabeth Humphreys. His father was a farmer who owned $100 of personal property. He grew up and attended school in Washington County, Virginia, and by 1860, he was working as a laborer.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on June 18, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company H of the 48^th Virginia Infantry on July 3. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Gettysburg. He was promoted to 2^nd sergeant on October 1, 1863. Union forces captured him in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, 1864, and he spent the next several months imprisoned near Elmira, New York. He was exchanged in the spring of 1865.

 

Humphreys returned to Washington County after the war, and he married Margaret Littreal there on June 6, 1867. They had eight children: Robert, born around 1868; George, born around 1870; Charles, born around 1872; Walter, born around 1875; John, born around 1879; Arthur, born around 1880; Horace, born around 1883; and Garland, born around 1888. They also adopted a daughter named Bessie, who was born around 1888. They eventually settled in Salem, Virginia, and Humphreys worked as a house carpenter. He died sometime in the early 1900s.

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